Indian national basketball league begins at Kadavanthra Regional Sports Centre

KOCHI: With the aim of giving a new impetus to Indian basketball, the Indian National Basketball League (INBL) kicked off at Kadavanthra Regional Sports Centre on Sunday. Six teams representing Kochi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai are participating in the five-day league.

The Chennai Heat defeated Delhi Dribblers and Mumbai Titans beat Bengaluru Kings on the first day of the first round, which started on Sunday. Hosts, Kochi Tigers, started on a winning note beating Chandigarh Warriors. The matches will be played out in three rounds.

The second round of the league will be held from October 26 to 30 in Jaipur and the third round from December 7 to 11 in Pune. The playoffs will be held from January 11 to 15, 2023, in Bengaluru. Each round will be held over five days.

The six teams will compete against all the remaining teams once in each round. After five days of round-robin matches, the team that tops the points table will receive a cash prize of `1 lakh. The most valuable player will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 25,000. Speaking at a press conference, Parveen Batish, CEO, INBL, said the aim of the league is to find Indian talent and raise the players to international level. “It has been a fast-paced journey in the past few months to put together the tournament. BFI has waived entry fee to encourage basketball and the league, making the event free for fans,” he said.